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PureCircle Further Ramps Up Its Ability To Meet the Growing Demand For New Generation stevia Sweeteners

Additions to Commercial Team Follow Increase in Production Capacity

CHICAGO, Feb. 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The global demand for stevia is growing, as beverage and food companies increase use of the plant-based zero-calorie sweetener. Last year, PureCircle (LSE: PURE) announced that it vastly increased its capacity to supply the new generation stevia sweeteners like Reb M to its customers cost effectively. Now, the company — the leading producer and innovator of stevia sweeteners — has expanded its commercial teams to broaden its sales reach and maintain its superior customer sales and technical service.

As part of that expansion, the Company has hired three new vice presidents:

Aymeric De Gantes will serve as Vice President of Business Development. He will be focused on expanding the sales of stevia ingredient flavors. He recently served in multiple roles for Naturex Inc., a leading plant-based ingredients company, including as a Global Director and as a Sales and Business Development Director.

Catalina Reachi Simon will serve as Regional Vice President of North Latin America Sales. She is experienced in leading business teams and most recently served as the General Manager for Mexico, Central America and Colombia at Roha Sciences, which produces and sells ingredients to the food, beverage, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics industries.

Chris Tower will serve as the company’s Regional Vice President of North American Sales. He has strong experience and expertise in the ingredient business; he was formerly founding president and CEO of Layn USA, Inc. a leading natural ingredient supplier of sweeteners, flavors and botanicals.

These new leaders report to Chief Commercial Officer Stéphane Ducroux who joined the company in 2018.

In addition to these three new vice presidents, the company has added other members to its global and regional teams, the cost of which will be offset by internal efficiency savings.

The company has also promoted Dave Gallagher and Ken Horn to Vice Presidents of Global Key Accounts. Gallagher and Horn oversee sales to some of the company’s most important global customers and are experts in the company’s products and their applications.

Commenting on these changes, PureCircle CEO Maga Malsagov said:

“These moves will enable us to even better capitalize on the growth opportunities created by our innovation and by the increasing demand for new generation stevia ingredients. As the global leader in stevia, we are able to attract top talent to help fuel our growth, and we welcome the new hires to the PureCircle team.”

By way of background, the story of stevia is evolving. Not long ago, it was viewed as a plant-based, zero-calorie, single-ingredient sweetener which worked well in some beverage and food applications. Today we offer a range of next generation stevia leaf sweeteners, including Reb M and D, which taste great and work well across multiple categories. These sweeteners help beverage and food companies increase their offerings of zero- and low-calories products without sacrificing taste.

Recent PureCircle advances enable the company to significantly boost production of our next generation stevia sweeteners – like Reb M and Reb D — which have the most sugar-like taste and are highly sought after by beverage and food companies. This means PureCircle is able to supply stevia sweeteners in the amounts customers need as they expand use of stevia – and is able to do that cost effectively for them.

In addition, as the result of its innovation, PureCircle is expanding its offerings and will sell, not just stevia sweeteners, but also protein, fiber and antioxidant ingredients from the stevia plant.

PureCircle is the only company that combines advanced R&D with full vertical integration from farm to high-quality, great-tasting innovative stevia sweeteners.

The Company collaborates with farmers who grow the stevia plants and with food and beverage companies which seek to improve their low- and no-calorie formulations using a sweetener from plants.

PureCircle will continue to: lead in research, development and innovation; produce a growing supply of multiple varieties of stevia sweeteners with sugar-like taste, using all necessary and appropriate methods of production; and be a resource and innovation partner for food and beverage companies.

PureCircle stevia flavor modifiers work in synergy with sweeteners to improve the taste, mouthfeel and calorie profile, and enhance the cost effectiveness, of beverage and food products.

Founded in 2002, PureCircle is continually investing in breakthrough research and development and it has been granted over 130 stevia-related patents with more than 250 applied for patents pending.

PureCircle has offices around the world with the global headquarters in Chicago, Illinois.

To meet growing demand for stevia sweeteners, PureCircle is rapidly ramping up its supply capability. It completed expansion of its Malaysian stevia extract facility in March 2017, increasing its capacity to rapidly supply the newer and great-tasting specialty stevia sweeteners and helping provide ever-increasing value to its customers.

PureCircle’s shares are listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.

Given the growing global concerns about obesity and diabetes, beverage and food companies are working responsibly to reduce sugar and calories in their products, responding to both consumers and health and wellness advocates. Sweeteners from the stevia plant offer sugar-like taste and are becoming an increasingly important tool for these companies.

Like sugar, stevia sweeteners are from plants. But unlike sugar, they enable low-calorie and zero-calorie formulations of beverages and foods.

stevia leaf extract is a natural-based, zero calorie, high-intensity sweetener, used by global food and beverage companies as a great-tasting zero-calorie alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners.

stevia is a naturally sweet plant native to South America; today, it is grown around the world, notably in Kenya, China and the US.

The sweet-tasting parts of the stevia leaf are up to 350 times sweeter than sugar: stevia’s high-intensity sweetness means it requires far less water and land than sugar.

Research has shown that the molecules of the stevia leaf are present and unchanged in the dried stevia leaf, through the commercial extraction and purification process, and in the final stevia leaf extract product. All major global regulatory organisations, across 65 countries, have approved the use of high-purity stevia leaf extracts in food and beverages.